It is the goal of this proposed research effort to develop a lightweight, battery-operated, fully portable, high resolution electronic vision substitution system. We have previously used both mechanical and electrocutaneous prototype television systems designed by the principal investigator. We have demonstrated the feasibility of these systems for mobility application, employment and educational utilization. The main thrust of the proposed project will be to carry this preliminary work to completion by developing a reliable, economical, portable electronic seeing aid for blind mobility. It must exhibit low weight, cost and power consumption; flexibility for maintaining contact with the skin of the trunk, and must be adaptable as wearing apparel. The proposed system will utilize one of our existing small, lightweight monolithic television cameras as an optical sensor mounted on the frame of a pair of glasses. An integrated circuit commutator will feed the processed video output of the miniature camera to the skin of the abdomen of the wearer by means of a flexibly conforming electrical or lightweight mechanical stimulator array to project 32-line resolution television images onto the skin. Our experiments in pattern perception through both mechanical and electrocutaneous stimulation have suggested that a lightweight, battery-operated, fully portable, vision substitution system is technologically and economically feasible. BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES: Bach-y-Rita, P. Tactile vision substitution system. In, The Effects of Blindness and Other Impairments on Early Development, Zofja S. Jastrzembska (Ed.), New York, American Foundation for the Blind, 1976, pp 122-129. Collins, C.C., Scadden, L.A. and Alden, A.B. Mobility studies with a tactile imaging device. Proc. Fourth Annual Conference on Systems and Devices for the Disabled, June 1977, in press.